“Thomason’s description of Thera’s totalitarianism will make fans of Brave New World shiver… SCI, her fantasy corporation, has disturbing parallels to actual companies and regimes that claim to do good while harming people… The author deftly appeals to both romance-loving teens as well as those intrigued by young adults fighting the establishment.”—Foreword Clarion Review, 4 stars

Meet The Second Chance Institute (SCI): Earth’s benevolent non-profit by day, Thera’s totalitarian regime by night. Their motto: Because Everyone Deserves a Second Chance™. Reality: the SCI subjects Second Chancers to strict controls and politically motivated science experiments like Cleaving—forced lifetime union between two people who have sex. Punishment for disobeying SCI edicts? Immediate Exile or death.

Meet Kira Donovan. Fiercely loyal, overly optimistic, and ensnared by the promise of a full-ride college scholarship, Kira signs the SCI Recruit contract to escape memories of a tragedy that left her boyfriend and friends dead.

Meet Blake Sundry. Bitter about being raised in Exile and his mother’s death, Blake’s been trained to infiltrate and destroy the SCI. Current barrier to success? His Recruit partner—Miss Goody Two Shoes Kira Donovan.

Full of competing agendas, romantic entanglements, humor, twists and turns, daynight is Megan Thomason’s debut young adult dystopian novel and first in the daynight series.

My Review:

What would you do to save the ones that you love? Would you cross lines that you swore should never be crossed? This is a very, very different and extremely unique concept for a novel. This is the story where conspiracy theory is no longer and theory and right and wrong are so blurred that you no longer know which way is up. This story is simultaneously utterly, disturbingly messed up and completely brilliant.

Thomason has a uniquely welcoming manner of giving background information that remains captivating while filling the reader in. She works lots of allusions into her story, leading the reader to a conclusion, rather than telling them. The author also flips perspective from character to character, showing the same situation from different points of view. It really adds clarity and intensity to the story.

The characters in this novel are unique and varied. They draw you in, making it so that you need to know what happens next. You become completely invested in their lives. You begin to wonder if one of the characters will do what’s expected of him, or the right thing, and which is which. Hell, you fall in love with these characters. One of them Google’s relationships. It’s absolutely priceless. She also works a love triangle (or is it a square? Actually, maybe a pentagon…) into the story. I found myself hoping and rooting against hope for the most unlikely pair.

This is one of those stories where you feel for the characters so strongly that you want to help them out. You want to jump in the story and live it out with them. The characters are backed up by a very solid storyline that leaves you with a feeling of completion yet needing to continue on with the characters on the rest of their journey.